Thunderstorms
by Psychotype
Summary: Some things are just meant to bring us together.


**This is the third and final oneshot in my little "series" of Half Life fanfics. Again, set in White Forest before they are attacked. Also, beware: this is a bit "mushy", or at least more then I'm used to normally writing.**

**If you could review, that would be great, because at the moment I have to self-edit, and I can't get any feedback. Constructive criticism would be great.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Psychotype**

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gordon is sitting on his bed at White Forest, trying to decide wether to read a book on portal technology, or a book on guns. He is a scientist at heart, and one day he may need to work alongside with Eli Vance and Isaac Kleiner and help them overthrow the Combine with science. Still, he needs to keep himself alive, in which case the book on guns would be useful. He is staring at the two books in his hand when a flash of lighting makes him jump out of skin. A few seconds after that, a large rumble of thunder practically knocks him off the bed. Gordon sighs.

A few hours earlier, a scientist working at White Forest announced that a storm was coming. Gordon was slightly surprised to see that most of the rebels at the base cowered at the news.

"Oh no, not another one!" "God, I hate these things."

"It just makes me shake inside, you know?"

What was going on? A thunderstorm wasn't too bad, right? The last time Gordon had been scared of a thunderstorm was when he was four years old and had to hide under the bed to escape the "Evil Lighting Monster".  Out of the corner of his eye, Gordon had spotted Alyx. He made his way over to her. She'd know why everyone was so scared. Perhaps it wasn't a thunderstorm, maybe it was a Portal Storm, or something like that.

"Hey, Alyx, what's going on? Is it a Portal Storm?" he asked his companion while gesturing towards the nervous crowd.

"What? No. You can't tell when a Portal Storm's coming. They happen randomly. This is a thunderstorm."

"You mean, something like a hurricane."

"No, just a thunderstorm." Alyx started to look at Gordon strangely.

"You mean, everyone's scared because of a thunderstorm?" Gordon asked incredulously. Alyx frowned, trying to find the source of his confusion. Her face suddenly lit up.

"Oh, Gordon, I forgot! You haven't seen one yet! Well, since the Combine came, thunderstorms have become much worse. It's some side effect, something to do with the Portals or the new energy source, I don't know the exact facts of it. Now, the thunderstorms are so horrible, they'll give you nightmares. You see, the thunder sounds like a bomb went of in your ears, and the lighting is so bright, it burns your eyes. That's when the storm's far away." Alyx grimaced.

Now, three hours later, Gordon can see what Alyx was talking about. The thunder seems to vibrate through his body. It reminds him of the nuclear bomb, the one which blew up Black Mesa. The bright flash, then the loud rumble which haunts Gordon even today.

In disgust, Gordon throws the books on the bed. There is no point in reading any of them now, the storm outside is just too distracting. No point trying to go to sleep either. Gordon gets up, stretches, and decides to take a walk down the hall.

One floor down from Gordon, Alyx is sitting on her bed in her pajamas, hugging her knees to her chest. She hates thunderstorms more then anything. Well, not more then the Combine, but thunderstorms are high on the list.

Alyx's earliest memory was of watching a thunderstorm with her father. Every time lightning would strike, she'd bury her face in her father's shirt. If one came at night, she'd run to her father's bedroom and get him to protect her. Alyx can't help but smile at the thought of running to her father now, almost twenty years later.

Outside, thunder roars noisily, and Alyx buries her head in her knees. Since there is no way she is going to be able to rest now, she decides to go find a quieter place to hide out while the storm rages on.

She grabs a flashlight and starts to walk down the dark halls. Her light flickers, and Alyx realizes with a groan that the batteries are probably almost out. She tries to remind herself that the dark is nothing to be scared of. After all, she had been traveling through the underground with Gordon just a day ago, and then there were zombies and zombines and headcrabs. So why be scared when she was safe at White Forest? A flash of lightning illuminates the hallway, and Alyx curses under her breath. She hates, _hates _thunderstorms!

One floor above her, Gordon is blindly trying to feel his way through the halls. He is so used to having his flashlight built into his HEV suit that he forgot to bring one. The only thing illuminating his path now is the occasional flash of lightning. Stumbling in the dark, Gordon almost falls down the staircase which is in front of him. He catches himself on the rail. After he gathers his footing, he decides to go downstairs. Maybe there will be more light down there.

Once Gordon makes it to the second floor, he notices another light flickering in the distance, but is too dim to be lightning. He decides to head to it. He turns the corner, collides head on with someone, and falls to the floor.

"What the-!" Alyx screams, but the thunder covers up her swears. She points her fading flashlight to the figure on the ground, and discovers it is Gordon. "Gordon, what are you doing here?"

Gordon rubs his head, looking up at Alyx. "I could ask you the same question." He gets to his feet.

"I'm trying to escape the storm. I hate these things." Just as she finishes, another boom of thunder shakes the walls. Alyx starts shivering, covering her ears with her hands, and squeezing her eyes shut tightly until the thunder dies down. Gordon frowns slightly. He hasn't seen her this shaken up since the train with the Stalkers crashed.

"What's wrong?" he asks in a concerned tone.

"I'm scared of these things. It's so damn stupid. I'd rather face a dark room full of zombies armed with nothing but a pocket knife then go through these. It's just. . . I'm just. . . pathetic." Alyx spits out the last word.

"What? Alyx, don't say that. Hell, you're the bravest person I've ever known. You're not pathetic. You're. . . you're. . ." Gordon takes a deep breath, as if he is going to say something meaningful, but instead sighs. He knows what he wants to say, but can't get the words out of his mouth. "You're just not pathetic, okay?" He looks closer at her, and realizes she is trembling. "Come on, let's find a place to sit down."

After a few minutes of searching in the dark, Gordon and Alyx find a comfortable couch to sit on. The only problem is it is facing a window, and they can see every streak of lightning that passes by. He gives Alyx a look that plainly reads, _Are you okay with this? _and Alyx nods in response.

For ten minutes they watch the storm rage on outside in silence. As time goes on, each streak of lightning becomes brighter and sharper, and each roll of thunder booms louder then the last.

"It's kinda pretty, in a way. I mean, it scares me to death and I hate it, but the lightning just has this certain energy to it," Alyx muses aloud, watching the lightning light the forest below.

"Maybe because it's an electrical discharge," Gordon answers back. Alyx can't help but scoff.

"You know that's not what I meant. I'm talking about the color. It's blue and yellow and pink and white, and the colors seem to. . . to. . ." Alyx struggles to find the right words.

"They seem to mix, like you can't tell where one color begins and the other ends." Gordon fills in for her. "It reminds me of what happens when you dip a painting in water. The colors run together. Yet the lightning's still has a sharp quality to it. Beautiful, in a really terrifying way. Lightning back in my day wasn't like this."

"I never knew you were so poetic." Alyx meant to say that as a joke, but it doesn't come out that way. She discovers what she said was true. She _hadn't_ known that Gordon was a deep thinker. Now that Alyx is thinking about it, she realizes that there's a lot about Gordon she didn't know. _I'd really like to learn more about him, _Alyx thinks.

Alyx's thoughts are cut of by the storm, which seems to be growing bigger.

"Oh, great. The storm's coming closer. Soon it's gonna be right on top of us. This is the terrifying part. This is when the thunder starts to echo in you, when it seems to be in your bones. And the worst part, even worse then that, is the anticipat-" Before Alyx can finish her sentence a streak of lightning hits a tree outside of their window, followed immediately after by the loudest roll of thunder ever imaginable, like God dropped a pair of cymbals on Earth.

Alyx's instincts tell her to hide, to shield herself from the lightning. When she gathers her wits, she discovers that she's buried her face in Gordon's chest, her hands clinging on his shirt much like she did to her father twenty years ago. Quickly, she snatches her hands away and scoots away from Gordon on the couch, clearly embarrassed. She starts trembling again from the shock of the storm.

"Oh, God, that was close. The storm, I mean. Wow. I. . . uh. . . um. . . That was quite some strike, huh?" Her last words quiver in the air. _Knock it off! _she tells herself. _Stop being such a wimp! It's a just freaking thunderstorm!" _But before she can calm herself down, another flash of lightning hits again right outside their window, and a loud burst of thunder shakes her insides. Alyx brings her knees to her chest, and starts hugging them. Tears slowly start filing her eyes, and she feels like an idiot. What was Gordon thinking? He must think she's a wimp, a fragile little girl who can't stand a thunderstorm.

"I'm sorry, I'm not usually like this," Alyx apologizes, the tears still running down her face. "I don't think it's just the thunderstorms. I think it's everything that's making me like this, all the stress, the strain that's been on us the past few days. I've never had an easy life, but this whole week, with Dad being taken away and Nova Prospekt and the Citadel exploding and the Hunter attack. . ." She starts shaking again.

Gordon is troubled. He wishes he could say something to calm her down, to comfort her, but can't think of anything. This is the problem with Gordon. He can almost never find the right words, so he keeps quiet a lot. But watching Alyx shake like this scares him, so he puts his arm around her shoulders to comfort her. She stops shaking immediately.

Alyx is surprised at Gordon's sudden move, but she smiles anyway. She relaxes and leans into his arm. For a while, they sit like that, close together, watching the storm slowly move away.

Due to the fact Alyx is exhausted, it's one in the morning, and the storm is growing quieter, she falls asleep on the couch. Her head is resting against Gordon's chest and she softly breaths in and out. Her legs are curled under her, her hands are resting on his arm.

Gordon is sitting still not to disturb her, enjoying the moment. He has learned to enjoy everything in life now, because everything can be taken away from you in a second. Soon, he will have to wake up Alyx, and they will both go to their separate rooms to sleep. Tomorrow, the Combine might attack, in which case Gordon will spend the whole day running around, protecting the silos. After that, they'll be off again on another adventure. He may never get another moment like this. So right now, Gordon is enjoying the warmth from Alyx's body, the delicate touch of her hands on his arm, the way her breath feels like an angel's fingers stoking his skin.

A faint flash of lightning illuminates Alyx's face, and she looks at peace. She's having a deep, dreamless sleep, and as far as she is concerned at the moment, there is no war going on, not a trouble in the universe. A rumble of thunder disturbs her, however, and a slight frown tugs at her lips. Gordon gently strokes her hair, and the frown disappears.

Bad things can turn out to be good, in the end. If the Combine hadn't taken over Earth, Gordon would never have met Alyx, and if they didn't need to fight together to stay alive, he never would have gotten to know her. If a thunderstorm wasn't raging outside right now, she wouldn't be next to him on the couch, closer to him then they'd ever been.

Some things are meant to bring us closer together. Like war, and thunderstorms. Gordon realizes, even though Earth has been stolen of it's natural beauty and will never be the same, even though life has been altered by the Combine and will never be the same, even though horrible things have happened and humanity will never, ever be the same, Gordon can't imagine a more perfect moment in his life than right now.


End file.
